NEWS
[ Side Mirror ] Political Dynasty
By Dominador C. Alarkon, Jr.

It is a sin if you are a son or daughter of a mayor, governor, congressman?

It is your fault if you have learned the ropes of governance and politics better than ordinary individuals because you have been exposed to the intricacies of politics longer than others?

It is a crime that you have the wherewithals to run for a public office because you have inherited them from your parents or earned them and you are qualified for an elective position not because you have relatives who have been in government and in politics but because you have appropriate academic background and capability, both inherent and acquired?

These questions have suddenly become relevant and timely after the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) this week announced that it is going to campaign against political dynasty. It means some, perhaps not all, Bishops will urge parishioners not to vote for candidates who could prolong political dynasty because they have relatives already holding elective positions.

It would be tantamount to campaigning for their opponents no matter if they are unfit for the positions they are aspiring for. Worse, it would infringe upon the free will of electorate on whom the Bishops obviously want to leave the choice on who should govern and lead them.

There are certain realities in politics that Bishops must perhaps address first instead of hastily barging into the political arena to wage their war against political dynasties. In the first place, if they really are serious in their bid to weed out this centuries-old tradition it is not going to be over in just one flick of a finger. There are semblances of political dynasty everywhere in this country. It is a practice so deeply rooted that even if the Bishops momentarily succeed it would resurge and resurface because it is inevitable.

Why inevitable?

A politician who hasstayed long in public office has supporters entrenched in every niche of government offices or establishments within his area of responsibility. By the Filipino character, habit and instinct they have to be sustained and protected. He, too, has crucial projects and programs that he would want pursued or continued after his term. He needs someone he could trust to do the job.

Well, of course, there are cases when a politician errs in choosing his successor from his family. It is evident here in Camarines Sur. But that is a very, very rare and in fact, unthinkable exception. When you are an artist it is invariably your wish that someone in the family could be an artist also. You don’t tell your son not to be an artist because you are already an artist.

What Bishops must carefully ponder upon is the harsh reality that in supposedly trying to dismantle political dynasty they are depriving the constitutional right of some individuals in this country to seek an elective position. No one is supposed to be born in this land with the built-in prohibition from seeking an elective position only because his parents or relatives have been elected by the people.

America and other more developed countries actually do not bother about political dynasty. John Kennedy was president while his brother Robert and Ted were also in the government and they did extremely well for the people. President George W. Bush is a son of a former US President George Bush. Now, Hillary Clinton is the front-running choice of the Democratic Party to be standard bearer in the next elections and there is the likehood that she would do better than her husband President Bill Clinton.

Rather than begrudge relatives of politicians wanting to be elected also by the people, Bishop must talk to their flock to stop pestering candidates by asking for money and other forms of material assistance because it is this nauseating culture of mendicancy that marginalizes the chances of poor but capable and virtuous aspirants for political positions.

Bishops should know if they don’t know yet the law limiting the expenses of local candidates to P3 per voter and national candidates to P5 per voter is a big joke and it is never followed because it is one impractical piece of legislation. Every candidate thus becomes a violator because he has to transgress the law by force of necessity.

Bishops, I am sure, could do better if they could curtail vote-buying. No candidate would want to spend but the voters give them no option. Corruption in the government actually begins with this nefarious habit of our voters who want to squeeze everything from a candidate.

That is the reason why potential good leaders shun away from politics. That is the reason why only the well-heeled and only those already with the political machinery succeed in an election.

That is why there is political dynasty.

Our revered Bishops could perhaps do better to dissuade voters from pestering candidates for material assistance